The Minnesota Wild will open their NHL playoff series vs. the St. Louis Blues tonight at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
It’s the third time that the teams are meeting in the postseason since the Wild entered the league in 2001. Minnesota is 1-1 in postseason series vs. St. Louis.
The Blues will pull even with Colorado and Chicago for most frequent playoff opponent. The Wild are 2-1 vs. the Avalanche and 0-3 vs. the Blackhawks.
They’ve now been gone for 29 years, but the North Stars were predecessors to the Wild, playing in the NHL from 1967-1993 until Norm Green moved the franchise to Dallas.
The Blackhawks were the North Stars’ biggest rival, but St. Louis was the team they played most often in the playoffs, with the Blues winning five of the nine meetings.
One of those postseason matchups came in 1968, which was the first season for each team.
The NHL expanded from six teams to 12 for the 1967-68 season.
You had to put aside your knowledge of geography when it came to how the teams were aligned.
The North Stars and Blues were placed in the West Division along with the other new teams, the Los Angeles Kings, Oakland Seals, Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins. The Original Six (Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhwks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs, were put in the East Division.
The top four teams in each division made the playoffs and played each other in the first two rounds.
Four points separated the top four teams in the West and the next team was only two more points back. The Flyers led with 73 points, followed by the Kings (72), Blues (70), North Stars (69) and Penguins (67). The Seals were well off the pace (47).
Both first-round series went seven games, with the fourth-seeded North Stars eliminating the second-seeded Kings and the third-seeded Blues knocking out the top-seeded Flyers.
St. Louis would have home ice advantage in the West finals but thanks to a conflict with a circus at Met Sports Center, five of the seven games would be played in St. Louis.
The Blues won Game 1 at home 5-3 with Game 2 going to the North Stars 3-2 in overtime on a goal by Parker MacDonald.
The next three games would be played at The Arena in St. Louis.
Minnesota won Game 3 by a 5-1 margin with Bill Goldsworthy posting a four-point game with two goals and two assists.
St. Louis won a pair of overtime games, 4-3 and 3-2 before the North Stars coming back home for another 5-1 win with Goldsworthy tallying two more goals.
There was no scoring for the first 57 minutes of Game 7 until Walt McKechnie scored his third goal of the season for the North Stars at 16:49 of the third period. However, the Blues followed it up 31 seconds later as Dickie Moore notched his sixth postseason goal for the Blues to force overtime.
Ron Schock’s first playoff goal at 2:50 of the second overtime sent the Blues to the Stanley Cup Final, where they would be swept by Montreal.
Goldsworthy (five goals and three assists) and Milan Marcetta (four goals and four assists) would tie for the most points in the series for the North Stars with eight apiece. Moore (four goals and four assists) led St. Louis in scoring with eight points.
Cesare Maniago was the only goalie Minnesota used in the series. In more than 465 minutes he made 230 saves (just under 33 per game) and had a .927 save percentage.
Glenn Hall started all six of the seven games for the Blues with Seth Martin starting Game 6. Hall did play the final 27:09.
For the series, Hall played 431:55, making 168 saves with a save percentage of .894.
Playoff results
All-time results in playoff series for the Minnesota North Stars.
1968
Won conference semifinals over Los Angeles Kings 4-2
Lost conference finals to St. Louis Blues 4-3
1969
Missed playoffs
1970
Lost conference semifinals to St. Louis Blues 4-2
1971
Won quarterfinals over St. Louis Blues 4-2
Lost semifinals to Montreal Canadiens 4-2
1972
Lost quarterfinals to St. Louis Blues 4-3
1973
Lost quarterfinals to Philadelphia Flyers 4-2
1974
Missed playoffs
1975
Missed playoffs
1976
Missed playoffs
1977
Lost preliminary round to Buffalo Sabres 2-0
1978
Missed playoffs
1979
Missed playoffs
1980
Won preliminary round over Toronto Maple Leafs 3-0
Won quarterfinals over Montreal Canadiens 4-3
Lost semifinals to Philadelphia Flyers 4-1
1981
Won preliminary round over Boston Bruins 3-0
Won quarterfinals over Buffalo Sabres 4-1
Won semifinals over Calgary Flames 4-2
Lost Stanley Cup Final to New York Islanders 4-1
1982
Lost Norris semifinals to Chicago Blackhawks 3-1
1983
Won Norris semifinals over Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1
Lost Norris finals to Chicago Blackhawks 4-1
1984
Won Norris semifinals over Chicago Blackhawks 3-2
Won Norris finals over St. Louis Blues 4-3
Lost Campbell Conference finals to Edmonton Oilers 4-0
1985
Won Norris semifinals over St. Louis Blues 3-0
Lost Norris finals to Chicago Blackhawks 4-2
1986
Lost Norris semifinals to St. Louis Blues 3-2
1987
Missed playoffs
1988
Missed playoffs
1989
Lost Norris semifinals to St. Louis Blues 4-1
1990
Lost Norris semifinals to Chicago Blackhawks 4-3
1991
Won Norris semifinals over Chicago Blackhawks 4-2
Won Norris finals over St. Louis Blues 4-2
Won Campbell Conference finals over Edmonton Oilers 4-1
Lost Stanley Cup Final to Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2
1992
Lost Norris semifinals to Detroit Red Wings 4-3
1993
Missed playoffs
Series records
Toronto Maple Leafs 2-0 1.000
Boston Bruins 1-0 1.000
Calgary Flames 1-0 1.000
Los Angeles Kings 1-0 1.000
Buffalo Sabres 1-1 .500
Edmonton Oilers 1-1 .500
Montreal Canadiens 1-1 .500
St. Louis Blues 4-5 .444
Chicago Blackhawks 2-4 .333
Detroit Red Wings 0-1 .000
New York Islanders 0-1 .000
Pittsburgh Penguins 0-1 .000
Philadelphia Flyers 0-2 .000
Game records
Boston Bruins 3-0 1.000
Toronto Maple Leafs 6-1 .857
Calgary Flames 4-2 .667
Los Angeles Kings 4-2 .667
Buffalo Sabres 4-3 .571
St. Louis Blues 26-26 .500
Montreal Canadiens 6-7 .462
Edmonton Oilers 4-5 .444
Detroit Red Wings 3-4 .428
Pittsburgh Penguins 2-4 .333
Philadelphia Flyers 3-8 .273
New York Islanders 1-4 .200
Playoff results
All-time results in playoff series for the Minnesota Wild.
2001
Missed playoffs
2002
Missed playoffs
2003
Won West quarterfinals over Colorado Avalanche 4–3
Won West semifinals over Vancouver Canucks 4–3
Lost West Finals to Mighty Ducks of Anaheim 4-0
2004
Missed playoffs
2005
Season canceled
2006
Missed playoffs
2007
Lost West quarterfinals to Anaheim Ducks 4-1
2008
Lost West quarterfinals to Colorado Avalanche 4-2
2009
Missed playoffs
2010
Missed playoffs
2011
Missed playoffs
2012
Missed playoffs
2013
Lost West quarterfinals to Chicago Blackhawks 4-1
2014
Won West quarterfinals to Colorado Avalanche 4-3
Lost West semifinals to Chicago Blackhawks 4-2
2015
Won West quarterfinals over St. Louis Blues 4–2
Lost West semifinals Chicago Blackhawks 4-0
2016
Lost West quarterfinals to Dallas Stars 4-2
2017
Lost West quarterfinals to St. Louis Blues 4-1
2018
Lost West quarterfinals to Winnipeg Jets 4-1
2019
Missed playoffs
2020
Lost West qualifying round to Vancouver Canucks 3-1
2021
Lost West quarterfinals to Vegas Golden Knights 4-3
Series records
Colorado Avalanche 2-1 .667
St. Louis Blues 1-1 .500
Vancouver Canucks 1-1 .500
Dallas Stars 0-1 .000
Vegas Golden Knights 0-1 .000
Winnipeg Jets 0-1 .000
Anaheim Ducks 0-2 .000
Chicago Blackhawks 0-3 .000
Game records
Colorado Avalanche 11-10 .524
St. Louis Blues 5-6 .455
Vancouver Canucks 5-6 .455
Vegas Golden Knights 3-4 .429
Dallas Stars 2-4 .333
Chicago Blackhawks 3-12 .200
Winnipeg Jets 1-4 .200
Anaheim Ducks 1-8 .111